Matt’s first proper word is most definitely “mum” which he’s been saying for a while now – I still get da-da-da-da. Despite having a vocab of one word and lots of cooing and babbling sounds, he clearly understands a lot more and will point to and find things we ask for. He can’t quite open the fridge yet to fetch his old man a beer, but we’re working on it…

As for walking, he’s been happily shuffling around objects for a while, but won’t stand freely yet. Yesterday though, he started walking properly with his Buzzy Bee Walker Wagon – there goes the paint on the skirting!

Yesterday also marked his first half day of in-home child care in preparation for Lou picking up more work next school term. Our little man is growing up fast…

1. From 7 Sep to 20 October 2007, you should read the sports section of the newspaper so that you are aware of what is going on regarding the World Cup, and that way you will be able to join in the conversations. If you fail to do this, then you will be looked at in a bad way, or you will be totally ignored. DO NOT complain about not receiving any attention.

2. During the World Cup, the television is mine, the VCR and DVD are all mine, at all times, without any exceptions. If you even take a glimpse of the remote control, you will lose it (your eye).

3. If you have to pass by in front of the TV during a game, I don’t mind, as long as you do it crawling on the floor and without distracting me. If you decide to stand nude in front of the TV, make sure you put clothes on right after because if you catch a cold, I won’t have time to take you to the doctor or look after you during the World Cup month.

4. During the games I will be blind, deaf and mute, unless I require a refill of my drink or something to eat. You are out of your mind if you expect me to listen to you, open the door, answer the telephone, or pick up the baby that just fell from the second floor….it won’t happen.

5. It would be a good idea for you to keep at least 2 six packs in the fridge at all times, as well as plenty of things to nibble on, and please do not make any funny faces to my friends when they come over to watch the games. In return, you will be allowed to use the TV between 12pm and 3pm, unless they replay a good game that I missed during the day.

6. Please, please, please!! If you see me upset because one of my teams is losing, DO NOT say ‘get over it, it’s only a game’, or ‘don’t worry, they’ll win next time’. If you say these things, you will only make me angrier and I will love you less. Remember, you will never ever know more about rugby than me and your so called ‘words of encouragement’ will only lead to a break up or divorce.

7. You are welcome to sit with me to watch one game and you can talk to me during halftime but only when the commercials are on, and only if the halftime score is pleasing me. In addition, please note I am saying ‘one’ game, hence do not use the World Cup as a nice cheesy excuse to ‘spend time together’.

8. The replays of the tries are very important. I don’t care if I have seen them or I haven’t seen them, I want to see them again. Many times, and record them.

9. Tell your friends NOT to have any babies, or any other child related parties or gatherings that requires my attendance because:
a) I will not go,
b) I will not go, and
c) I will not go.

10. But, if a friend of mine invites us to his house on a Sunday to watch a game, we will be there in a flash.

11. The daily World Cup highlights show on TV every night is just as important as the games themselves. Do not even think about saying ‘but you have already seen this…why don’t you change the channel to something we can all watch??’, the reply will be: ‘Refer to Rule #2 of this list’.

12. Please save your expressions such as ‘Thank goodness the World Cup is only every 4 years’. I am immune to these words, because after this comes the reruns of the Rugby World Cup, etc etc.

13. And finally, if you are female and your “man” likes rugby less than you, he is not a real man and shall be bound by these rules and additionally be referred to as “the bitch” for the duration of the World Cup.

The first public offering of certified Carbon Credits sold on TradeMe yesterday and today, a couple of parcels for households and one for a business. If this is pretty random stuff to you, I suspect you’re not alone – I’m still trying to grasp the ins and outs of it too…

Meridian Energy put the parcels of credits up for purchase, having come from their wind farm at Te Apiti, with the idea being that you can use the credits to offset your carbon dioxide emissions (calculate them at carboNZero).

So why buy carbon credits? For a business it might be good for marketing allowing a claim of “carbon neutral” (ie clean and green) to be made, whereas an individual would do so solely for ethical reasons. However, here’s where I would argue that you’re far better off making changes to your lifestyle or home/business that are more energy efficient or environmentally friendly first, rather that simply paying to offset bad practices. If and when you’ve got your emissions as low as practically possible (and I’m sure everyone can do more) then look at buying to offset the final amount if you must.

In this case the parcels of 20 credits (offsetting 20 tonnes of CO2) went for around $3,000 (view auctions here and here) and the parcel of 1000 credits went for a little over $19,000 (auction here). What happens next is up to the buyer – they can either retire the credits thus offsetting their emissions, or keep em and on sell them at a later date (presumably for a profit…)

Meridian claim they put the credits on TradeMe to get people talking about their carbon footprint and how to reduce it. Given this ramble, and combined auction page views of over 30,000, I guess they succeeded.

After a break of a couple of months, the next film in the Bond saga got a screening today. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974 – mighty fine year that by the way) is the second to feature Roger Moore as 007.

While I enjoyed this one more than Live and Let Die, I felt the plot was a little weak and Moore still doesn’t feel right in the role (but better than his first outing). The pace was a little quicker, but the film contained some annoying attempts at comedy/parody, with the bumbling sheriff making another appearance. The movie was filmed in Macau, Hong Kong and Thailand and sees Bond chasing a “Solex Agitator” – a device to harness solar power, with the villian ‘Scaramanga’ being played by Christopher Lee.

Where the last film lacked meetings with Q and M, this one fills those gaps but contains no trademark Bond gadgets to speak of. As you might expect several girls get some screen time, including ‘Goodnight’ and ‘Chew Mee’. 😉

Finally, a couple of quotes for ya,

Bond: “Moneypenny, you are better than a computer”
Moneypenny: “In all sorts of ways, but you never take advantage of them”